Teaching Matters

A Reflection on Teachers and Teaching

I consider myself fortunate for many reasons. I've been blessed to have had a few teachers in my life that both taught and inspired. And I've been blessed to work in the education field, and been both subject and witness to the grand transformation that occurs when a teacher connects with a student beyond curriculum.

Naturally, great teachers have an expert understanding of their subject. Perhaps more importantly, they must also be gifted communicators, able to share their wisdom and passion for a subject to learners of all types and abilities. But for all their hard work and compassion, the sad truth is that teachers are simply not valued in a manner that adequately reflects their contribution to society.

Teaching can be an incredibly rewarding experience, and wonderful job. Teachers come in all shapes and sizes, and teach in a wide variety of places. Schools are the obvious place, but teachers, tutors, coaches also work outside formal institutions. In such cases they take on even the greater responsibility of managing their teaching business. The challenge for these teachers, tutors and coaches is that running is business, finding and retaining customers, handling billing and scheduling and messaging are all responsibilities for which they have little to no experience or training.